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I want her slight frame to fill up every single empty bit of my hollow world.
The thought makes me shudder, and she remains quiet as I pull back just enough for her to be comfortable. Her heartbeat thuds against mine, two uneven rhythms slowing as we acquaint ourselves with each other in this manner.
Had I ever known anyone the way I yearn to know her?
After a few minutes, she settles a free hand on my back, running her fingertips over my bare skin. The feathery touch makes me sink into her, adjusting myself so I don’t settle all of my weight on her.
This is intimacy,I think to myself as I close my eyes, basking in the easiness of it.
And maybe Eloise is craving the kind of company we both lack in our lives. Maybe we’re filling in empty spaces for each other. Spaces we didn’t realize were empty until we met each other.
As I drift back to sleep, my body caging hers, I feel fuller than I have in a long time.
For a moment, I’m disoriented, the sun piercing through the sliver of space between the dark curtains I usually leave completely pulled together. Then, I’m disappointed.
Gone is the beautiful woman I fell asleep against and in her place are sheets warmed by her body and covered in her scent.
I don’t bother calling out for her, and if it weren’t for the pieces of herself she left behind, I’d think I dreamt her even being here. I should’ve known she’d leave before I could wake up to her. It’s her nature; it’s all I’m able to predict about this infuriating woman.
She’ll always leave.
With a groan, I sit up, running my hands through my hair before reaching down to scratch my chest. I’m getting my bearings when I hear quiet steps padding toward my bedroom. And then I smell a distinct scent that enters the room before she does.
Eloise fills my doorframe with a mug in her hand, steam rising from it. The smell of coffee has me perking up. The sight of her in one of my shirts has my dick doing the same.
“I thought you left,” I admit, the gravel of sleepiness still in my voice.
“I thought about it,” she confesses as she leans forward the hand me the coffee. “But I think we’re past that point.”
I take a sip before trying to speak again, feeling the caffeine already bringing me to life.
“And what point are we at now?” I set the mug down on the nightstand and move to the edge of the bed, my feet hitting the floor. Before she can move out of my reach, I grab her hand and pull her to stand in the space between my legs. I want to see her face, all of the emotions she tries to hide from me, as she answers me. In the daylight, where she can’t use the shadows to her advantage.
“Where I can come over at the crack of dawn, unannounced, and sleep in your bed,” she starts, running a finger over my shoulder. “You have freckles,” she murmurs. “Did the sun put them there?”
I shrug. I don’t have many opportunities to examine my own shoulders. I have less opportunities to have Eloise in my home like this.
Open.
Vulnerable.
Falling.
I don’t have to hear it from her lips to read it from her body.
“I’ve thought about you here since the moment I purchased the place,” I ease her into the truth, my eyes never leaving hers. I want to lay myself bare for her.
“In what ways?” she whispers her question, a timid acceptance into this moment where nothing else matters but us.
“Naked. Wet. Happy. Thoughtful.” I’m running my fingers up and down her arms before I reach up to stroke her cheek with my thumb. “At ease.”
She turns her face, as if what I’m saying is too much, and I allow her the room to break free from my hold.
Before she can overshadow the moment with her doubts and fears, I stand up and head toward the en suite bathroom.
“I’m taking a shower,” I toss out over my shoulder as I cross the threshold. “Try to stick around?”
I leave the decision up to her.
